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Leeds United: Arch deal requires League approval
The Football League will be asked to give its approval to the deal reached by Leeds City Council to buy Leeds United's training ground at Thorp Arch.
The council's prospective purchase of the 6million complex, which could be completed next week, is dependent on the Football League sanctioning the lease agreement negotiated between the local authority and the League One club.
Leeds plan to rent Thorp Arch from the council after approaching it for help in purchasing a property sold by the club to private property developers in 2004.
At the time of that sale, United's board negotiated a buy-back clause which gave the club until October 2009 to raise the funds needed to reclaim the freehold at Thorp Arch.
Leeds approached the council for financial assistance earlier this year, insisting they had neither the money nor the access to lending facilities required to complete the purchase themselves. The council has since agreed to buy Thorp Arch and lease the facility back to the club, subject to the completion of due diligence.
The deal would appear to erase the threat of Leeds losing the use of their state-of-the-art training complex in future years, and chairman Ken Bates announced this week that the transfer of the freehold to the council would take place by this Thursday, October 15.
Leeds City Council, however, has confirmed that the Football League will be required to provide its approval before the council borrows the funds needed to complete the sale. A deal will not be announced until the governing body gives its blessing.
The council is still in the process of carrying out due diligence having agreed terms with Leeds.
Its joint leader, councillor Andrew Carter, told the YEP: "The Football League will need to sign the deal off before it goes through. That's an absolute deal-breaker.
"We haven't received that approval yet because we haven't finished our due diligence. But because of the details involved in the deal, it's essential that the Football League says yes to it."
Coun Carter did not comment on the nature of the details which require the Football League's attention.
In a separate development, the League's board announced on Thursday that it had written to United to ask for clarification about the identity of the club's owners.
The request was prompted by recent reports raising doubts about who holds overall control of the Elland Road club, and whether United's owners have passed the League's fit and proper persons test. Leeds intend to comply with the demand for further information.
Coun Carter said the Football League’s approval for the deal to buy Thorp Arch was a necessity long before the question of United’s ownership was raised, but he does not expect a response from the League until it has first dealt with the matter of which individuals are ultimately behind the Forward Sports Fund, the off-shore firm which holds a 100 per cent share holding in Leeds.
Coun Carter said: “It’s worth remembering that we’re buying the training ground from its private owners, not from Leeds United. Leeds United will become the council’s tenants.
“The issue of ownership doesn’t change the conditions and requirements that we’ve always insisted on but I’d expect that the League would want a response from Leeds United (to its letter regarding the club’s owners) before they consider Thorp Arch. In any case, they can only consider Thorp Arch once our due diligence is complete.”
Asked whether Thursday was a realistic deadline for the sale to be finalised and approved by the Football League, coun Carter said: “It could well be but the bottom line is that all of our conditions have to be met before that happens.”
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Friday 10 February 2012
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